It’s currently one of the hottest topics on the internet – under what circumstances would you give up your seat for a fellow passenger?
Just this month, a train passenger received recognition for silently mocking a young woman who refused to get up from the seat he had booked and paid for.
While a stubborn mother was widely vilified for demanding that another passenger give up her reserved train seat so she could sit next to her three children.
Now, in perhaps a surprising twist, a passenger has been applauded for speaking out against a newlywed couple who want to sit together on their honeymoon.
The couple were on their way to their destination when the groom asked the man on a window seat if he would move so he and his lover could sit together.
The angry passenger took to Reddit to vent his frustration, saying: “They asked me if they could swap seats with me, which I politely declined and gave them my reasons. One of the reasons was my size and the aisle traffic.
“I always get someone bumping into me when I’m sitting in the aisle. Once I hurt my elbow badly because the trolley hit me. Since then, I (have) avoided the aisle seat.”
Travelers applauded a man who refused to leave his seat when the newlyweds asked (stock photo)
Taking his frustration to Reddit, he said in a reopened post: “They asked me if they could trade places with me, which I politely declined and gave them my reasons. One of the reasons was my size and the corridor traffic.
It was the second and longest of three flights he took that day, so “he wanted to sleep and relax.”
The other man sat in the aisle seat of his row and also “tried” to persuade him to change seats and “started to make a scene” when he refused to pretend to be the couple’s “honeymoon”.
In his recent message, the passenger asked the online forum: “I wasn’t moving and everyone around me, including the crew, seemed to hate me. Am I wrong to refuse to change seats?’
Most on the online forum answered with a resounding no – the man was not wrong for refusing to move.
One of them said: “If they wanted to sit together so badly, they would have had to pay extra to book seats together.
“It never ceases to amaze me that they don’t plan this far ahead and then expect others to only give up a specific seat that the passenger specifically paid for.”
Another pointed out: “The right of newlyweds is one thing. The correct end result has been given here many times.
“You booked and paid for this seat. You shouldn’t feel bad or guilty in any way because you didn’t give it to someone else who didn’t bother to plan ahead or pay extra.”
A third added: “Every time this story comes up, the person is not the idiot who refuses to move. You have reserved your seat specifically. It’s bad to be her, but not your problem.”
This remains a hotly contested debate in the frequent flyer community, with some passengers even refusing to give up seats for children (stock photo of passengers on a plane)
This remains a hotly contested debate in the frequent flyer community, with some passengers even refusing to give up seats for children.
In a resurfaced Reddit post, a passenger on a flight from Japan to the US was sitting by the window with “the toddler sitting next to him in the middle.” The mother was also in the middle seat, but the row behind.
The Redditor explained what happened, saying: “[The mother] asked me – and only me – to trade places with her so that she could have my window seat (next to her daughter) and I would take her middle seat one row down.
No. Not my problem, they didn’t book together.”
He added: “The audacity to just ask me and expect an inferior profession from me.”
To make matters worse, the passenger said they were “surrounded by others” from the mother’s travel group and that she “would rather have asked for a three-way exchange.”
Some expressed surprise that he would rather sit next to an unaccompanied infant than change seats.
One of them wrote: “I am surprised that as a parent of a toddler you would rather sit next to someone else’s unaccompanied toddler than just move.
“Of course someone else can move, but either someone has to move or someone has to sit next to a flying toddler.
“I honestly don’t know what’s more annoying to the other passengers.
“For some reason it is not always possible for families to book seats together and imagine they sometimes have to fly seats.
“I don’t know what the answer is here, but getting mad at a mother trying to babysit her own child is stupid.”
Another asked the chain, now removed, “Why were you so poor as to sit next to a stranger’s little girl?”
In February, New York-based Surya Garg revealed on TikTok that she faced a similar situation when a mother asked her if she wanted to switch places with her teenage son.
In the video, she said the mother asked her if she wanted to give up her window seat, which she had paid extra for, so she could sit with her son, who “must be at least 16 or 17 years old”.
When she asked where the woman was taking her, she was directed to a “middle seat, about a few rows down.”
When she then asked who the woman’s son was, she was shocked to discover that he was not a child but “like a two meter tall man”.
Surya said that at the time she “didn’t really know what to say to the mother” and “didn’t want to look like an a**hole”.
However, she decided to refuse the woman’s request, explaining that she had paid extra for the seat.
After being told “no,” Surya said the mother “made me the dirtiest face I’ve ever seen,” and then proceeded to “mutter obscenities at me throughout the flight.”
Surprised by the experience, Surya asked other TikTokers, “Am I wrong here?” I need someone to tell me.”
The consensus on TikTok was that Surya was right. One of them said: “I’m starting to think it’s not ‘bad planning’. I think people rely on “the good Samaritan” so they don’t have to pay extra for a seat.”
Another joked: “You’re not wrong. She just had separation anxiety from her 204-month-old son.”
A third added: “She could have asked whoever was sitting next to her son to switch places with her. People are so right. You didn’t do anything wrong.’
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James is an author and travel journalist who writes for The Fashion Vibes. With a love for exploring new cultures and discovering unique destinations, James brings his readers on a journey with him through his articles.
